A Long Way Back to Lothlorien
by Minerakf
Summary: The side-story to Sapphire's Strange Friends! Boromir knows he is in love with this strange elleth at first sight. But will Lauren return his affections? She obviously cares about him; she saved his life after all. But does she really have feelings about him?
1. Wargs!

Hey! This is Minerakf! For all you romance fans, this is Love at First Sight, side-story to Sapphire's Strange Friends. I am writing with absolutely no romantic experience. Please forgive me if this sucks! D; But a word of warning: Any flames will be put under Bilbo Baggins' tea kettle.

 **Boromir:**

The others dashed off and Boromir scooped up the sleeping elleth. It was strange...from what he knew, elves did not sleep. Perhaps it was only because she was unconscious? He looked upon her fair face and felt exhilaration sweep him off his feet. She truly was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen.

He started walking upriver and noticed a silver pack hanging from a tree. It was just like Lady Sapphire's magical pack! He pulled on what she had called a 'zipper' and opened the bag. There was nothing inside, but when he thought of lembas bread, a loaf appeared.

On the back of the bag, there was an L in the little white jewels that Sapphire had called 'rhinestones'.

He shouldered his pack and the little silver pack and started his way upriver, heading back to Lothlorien, where he would wait out the war. Anger filled him when he thought of how the others were going to lie about his death to his brother and father, causing them great sorrow and anguish. The elleth (Lauren wasn't it?) shifted in her sleep, sighing and pressing her face to his chest.

They carried on like this for over four hours. Boromir was growing very weary. His arms ached from carrying the maiden even though she was rather light. He pushed on, he would not give up. He had to save Lauren's life. He owed her that much after she had saved his pathetic life.

As the sun began to set he finally stopped to rest, laying the maiden on his own blanket and covering her with his fur-lined cloak for he was too hot to wear it any longer. He cleansed himself in the river, washing off the blood and dirt. He washed his clothes as best as he could and laid them out to dry in the wind, which had picked up that evening. Once they were relatively dry, he put them on and went to check on Lauren. She was still peacefully sleeping where he had left her. He lay down beside her on his other blanket and attempted to sleep, but he found he could do naught but gaze upon her peaceful smile as she dreamt. Soon, however, exhaustion won him over and his eyes closed of their own accord.

 **Lauren:**

I woke up to see Boromir's face very close to my own. He only looked slightly different than in the movies. And the difference was a good one. He looked much stronger, his facial features more defined. He had a lot more muscle than in the movie as well. He looked like a warrior like Aragorn and Theoden.

In other words, he looked manly. Even while sleeping! Not fair! I always had a terrible case of bed-head from rolling around all night, and he looked like he had just lay down! He had no blanket, but I had a fur-lined cloak draped over me. I sat up and looked around. I didn't see any other members of the Fellowship. I guessed Sapphire had sent him to Lothlorien? Did she have to tell them everything because of me? I was a terrible friend! I sighed and looked at the bandage on my arm. It was stained brown. I peeled it back, and was relieved to find it already scabbing over. I wished Tyler was here, he would be able to tell me if it was healing properly. It looked a little blackish around the edges, and greenish in the middle, like it was getting infected. I certainly hoped it wasn't getting infected!

Boromir woke up and saw me messing with my bandages.

"Here, my lady, allow me," he said, digging in his pack and bringing out elvish salve and fresh white bandages.

I sat still while he gently washed the wound with water from the river and applied salve.

"I am no healer, but this looks very infected," Boromir said, inspecting my arm worriedly.

I shrugged and tried to take the bandages away from him. He frowned and spoke again, but this time I had to read his lips. My hearing aid had just died! They had been on all night, and now they needed more batteries, but my pack and twenty extra hearing aid batteries (thank you soooo much Tolkien!) were with the others.

Then I spotted it beside Boromir's pack. They must have left it where he could find it or something. I sighed in relief and tried to stand up. Immediately I felt woozy from lack of blood. I stumbled and Boromir's strong arms caught me. He said something that I couldn't hear and I could not read his lips because he was behind me. But I guessed he was telling me to be careful. I nodded, and pushing his hand away, grabbed my pack and carefully and slowly made my way down to the river. Boromir gave me privacy as I washed myself and my elvish garments. I then put on the pink fitted T-shirt and stretchy blue jeans I had arrived in. I changed the batteries in my hearing aids. I had 18 left now. Each one lasted about a week with heavy use, and they took one for each ear. So I had about ten weeks worth of hearing left, but I could stretch that to twenty, thirty weeks if I remembered to shut them off at night and when I didn't need them. When I came back, Boromir stared at me for a moment before saying, "So you come from Lady Sapphire's world?"

I simply nodded, not wanting him to hear my raspy voice.

"You do not talk nearly as much as her," Boromir noted. I smiled and nodded, turning up my hearing aid while pretending to scratch my ear.

I tried to help him roll up the blankets but he wouldn't let me. He let me walk on my own for about an hour, but the very first time I tripped on a tree root, he caught me and made me rest and eat.

We walked for another hour after that in silence, so I figured it would be okay to turn off my hearing aid. I was starting to get really tired and my arm was throbbing. My head throbbed too, and my legs felt all wobbly. Suddenly I found myself on the ground, my head spinning, my cheek pressed against wet leaves.

Boromir was calling out something but I couldn't make it out because my vision was so blurred. I moaned, seeing double, and vaguely felt Boromir lifting me in his strong arms, and then I lost consciousness.

 **Boromir:**

Lady Lauren had not spoken a single word since Boromir had met her. She was quiet and thoughtful, but not sad.

Suddenly she collapsed, her thin legs giving way beneath her. Boromir reacted too slowly, and her fragile head landed in the wet leaves. He rushed over and lifted her head, feeling for any rocks hidden by the leaves and any telltale bumps forming on her head. He found none, thankfully. However, her eyes were unfocused and dim, her brilliant, emerald green iris losing its luster.

"Lady Lauren! Lady Lauren! Speak to me! I will not let you die in my stead! Please!" he cried, shaking her gently. She groaned, and her eyes rolled back in her head, but Boromir still felt a pulse. He lifted her up and carried her the rest of that morning.

She awoke when they stopped moving and he had set her down.

"Are you hungry my lady?" he asked. She nodded weakly.

Boromir looked in the pack and found nothing but lembas bread. He scoffed, this bread would not help her regain her strength as well as some fresh meat. He wondered if she even ate meat.

"My lady, do you consume meat?" he asked. She nodded. Hmm...strange. Something told him she was not an elf from birth. She had been a human. He had noticed how she slept with her eyes closed, and she did not walk with all the grace of an elf, though he supposed that could be the poison weakening her.

"Good," Boromir said, lifting up a struggling Lauren and wrapping her arms around his neck. He scaled a tree and put her in one of its many branches. "I will be back with food and firewood. Stay here, do not wander, for rogue wargs are known to inhabit these lands,"

She nodded.

He went out and quickly found a lamed rabbit, which he shot with his bow. He did not stop to question why it was lamed as he skinned it on the spot with his hunting knife.

A low growl came from in front of him, and he froze. That sound was all too familiar. He had dealt with many wargs on the way to the Rivendell. This one sounded fairly large though.

He tensed his leg muscles, and heard a swoosh and a roar, and he rolled out of the way, drawing his sword.

But before he could locate his attacker, a smaller warg jumped on him and started tearing into his armor. His sword flew far out of his reach. He growled and threw the smaller warg off of him, for it was only an infant. The mother was most likely teaching it how to hunt before it left her.

The young warg leapt at him again but Boromir brought up his shield. The warg's claws scrabbled on the metal, but then the mother warg cuffed him so hard he saw stars. He dropped his shield and the baby left a claw mark on his neck.

That was when he saw two more full grown wargs nearby. A pack.

He dove for his sword, yelling at the top of his lungs, "Lady Lauren! RUN! Get out of here!"

He turned around and sliced off the head of the leaping baby warg. Black blood splattered his face and he spat out the foul tasting liquid. The mother roared and leapt upon him, but he drove his sword up through her belly. She fell to the side and he yanked his sword back out, only to be confronted by four regular sized wargs, and a giant scarred one with rippling black muscles. The Alpha.

He did what any human would do. He turned tail and ran, two more wargs joining the chase with howls of delight.

"RUN! LADY LAUREN RUN!" he yelled when he saw the elleth still sitting in the tree but on a lower branch. Her back was turned to him. She showed no signs of hearing him.

"ARE YOU MAD?! WHY ARE YOU JUST SITTING THERE!" he screamed, a warg snapped at the empty air behind him. He swung himself over a log and jumped into the lowest tree branch. He grabbed Lady Lauren and swung her over his back, scrambling up the tree as fast as he dared.

He set her down and she immediately asked "What's wrong?" He pointed at the wargs and yelled angrily, "ARE YOU BOTH DEAF AND BLIND WOMAN?! THOSE ARE WARGS!"

As the wargs scrabbled at the thick tree trunk, her eyes widened in horror and she fiddled with something in her ears. She looked hurt by what he said, and he immediately regretted yelling at her. But why had she not responded?

It hit him like a sack of potatoes.

She _was_ deaf.

He was a fool.


	2. My Heroic Death: Describe it Please

The wargs left, and the silence that followed was deafening. He finally managed to say, "You're deaf,"

Very smooth Boromir. Very Smooth.

She nodded.

"You are reading my lips?" he asked.

She nodded again.

"Can you not speak either?"

She frowned, and sighed.

"No...I can speak," she said, but it came out in a rasp, not unlike some orcs he had heard before.

No wonder why she was embarrassed to speak aloud. But he didn't mind.

"My lady, do not be ashamed to speak to me," Boromir said.

She laughed nervously, and coughed a little, "I'm not ashamed! It just hurts my throat!"

The blush painted on her cheeks said otherwise.

 **Lauren:**

"I'm not ashamed!" I protested, "It just hurts my throat!"

Boromir studied me, an amused expression on his face.

Out of nowhere, Boromir asked "Were you not born an elf?"

"Wha...how did you know?" I rasped.

"Elves are not born with illnesses," Boromir said slowly.

"Oh. Right. Yeah, I'm human. I got changed..." I coughed dryly, "...I got changed into an elf when I was brought into this world..."

"So, you are Sapphire's friend? Who are the other three?"

"Tyler, Peter, and Julia,"

"Where are they now?"

"Following the Fellowship,"

"Since Rivendell?"

"Yeah, since Rivendell. It's kind of crazy, but here's the thing: They were all together, you know, Tyler, Julia, Peter, and Sapphire, when they were brought here. I was out camping in the woods with my mom. We all got brought on different days, into different places. I bet you can't guess where I showed up!"

"I daren't try," Boromir laughed.

"The worst place you could possibly imagine!" I rasped.

Boromir looked confused, "You have not traveled from Mordor have you?"

"Okay, the SECOND worst place you could possibly imagine,"

"Hmm...the Dead Marshes?" Boromir said. "That is quite a long ways from here though."

"Yeah, you're not even close. Do you give up?"

"Yes, I surrender."

"So I went to sleep and I woke up in the Balrog's cave!" I rasped.

"You must be jesting me!" Boromir cried in horror.

"Nope! I was trapped in a tunnel too small for it to get into. I had a lantern but it was running out of fuel, and I was almost out of food and water when Julia, Peter, and Tyler showed up! I was stuck in there for three days!"

"That sounds terrifying. You are brave my lady," Boromir said.

"Well, at least I had chocolate bars, Sapphire's phone, and books to keep me entertained. My big camping bag came with me!"

"What is a phone and chocolate bars?"

"Here, let me show you," I rasped, trying to climb out of the tree.

"No, allow me," Boromir said, hopping down to the next branch and offering me his hand. I felt my cheeks start to heat up, but I took it and he lifted me onto his shoulders. I blushed some more and was relieved when we reached the bottom.

"Wow. You are really strong," I muttered.

"I used to believe so as well, until I met your young lady friend."

"Sapphire? Oh yeah, she's the best. But she is very immature. She is 16 but she acts more like 13!"

"Indeed. Now, let us get moving. We must get you to the elvish healers or you may lose your arm or worse.

"I don't feel that bad..." I mused. And really, I didn't. My arm was a bit sore, but other than that, I felt great for someone who had just been shot with a poisoned arrow.

Then I tried to move my arm.

It didn't budge.

"Uh...I can't move my arm Boromir."

"It is as Aragorn feared. The poison has destroyed the nerves in your arm. If we do not hurry, you may never be able to use that arm again," Boromir said.

"Now, no complaining," the man said, and then he scooped me up like I was a rag doll.

"Hey! I can walk!"

"This will be faster, and I do not want you overexerting yourself again. You are still very weak."

I sighed, "Alright, but only for today."

"You are much less stubborn than Lady Sapphire," Boromir commented. As I suspected. Sapphire had already made her reputation in Middle Earth by being as stubborn as a mule.

"So, tell me, what do you think of Sapphire?" I asked as Boromir shouldered his pack and my silver one.

"Well, I suppose I must say, she is very jovial. She is good at encouraging and motivating," Boromir said slowly.

"Go on. Tell me the bad too,"

"Well, she is rather brash, and she jumps into things without thinking. She is very strong, and she is actually quite intimidating when she is mad."

"And?" I prompted.

"She is loud. She yells a lot, and she speaks quickly. She never runs out of jokes to tell. She brings a smile to your face. She is very stubborn, and used to getting her way, but she is intelligent and kind."

"Wow. That was the best description of Sapphire I've ever heard. Now, if you were to walk up to Sapphire and ask her to label herself, well, she would most likely say that she's a crazy-awesome-musclebound-freak-of-nature-hulk." I rasped.

"Indeed?" Boromir's eyes twinkled.

Suddenly I realized how long I had been talking without coughing.

"Wow, I have been talking for a while now and I haven't even coughed! I think my lungs are improving!"

"I am glad for you," Boromir said.

"So, I've been wondering, what crazy things has Sapphire has said and done while she's been with you all?"

Boromir laughed, "Don't even get me started..."

"No, tell me, tell me! We have plenty of time to talk!" I pleaded.

"Alright, first of all, she screamed in the middle of the Council of Elrond."

I cracked up. "Describe it to me!" I demanded.

"Well, everyone was yelling about having a woman in the room, and I believe I might have said something that she labels as 'sexist'. She screamed 'Shut it', and Lord Elrond says, 'Shut what?'"

Boromir smiled and chuckled, "And then I believe I made more 'sexist' remarks, and she yelled, and I quote: "Excuse me, but I didn't haul Frodo's sorry little butt for six miles in ten freaking minutes after chasing Nazgul to be told I am worthless by a stupid, arrogant, and pathetic little man."

I laughed until tears streamed down my face, "She seriously said that?! In the Council of Elrond?!"

"Indeed she did."

"Man, she is so crazy!" I laughed.

"Crazy?" Boromir asked.

"Insane!"

"I will not argue with you on that one my lady."

"So, what do you think about me?" I asked, feeling brave. Boromir looked surprised.

"What do I think about you?"

"Yeah, be honest. Do I bother you?" I asked.

Boromir looked shocked, "Of course not! You saved my life. I am eternally grateful!"

"Now you sound like those green aliens from Toy Story," I muttered.

"What?" Boromir asked.

"Nevermind. And me saving your life? How could I stand around and watch you die?!"

"You took that arrow for me. You are the bravest woman I have ever known. You could have just let me die, but you put your immortal life at stake for me. What did I do to deserve that?"

"If I wouldn't have done that, you would have gone down a hero, trying to defend Merry and Pippin,"

"And tell me about this 'heroic' death that I die," Boromir growled.

"Well, depends on which version you choose. There is something in my world called a movie, where you watch things happen on a flat surface in front of you. It's like a play that has been saved so you can watch it many times.

"Strange, but it sound magnificent. What is the other version?"

"The book version. It wasn't really descriptive, it just said that Aragorn and the others found you 'Pierced with a great many arrows' and with 'Many enemies slain about your feet' I think the book version is more accurate with how many orcs you slay, but the movie version is more in sync with how many arrows it took to bring you down. The book didn't mention that the arrows were poisoned, but they were in the movie."

"Then tell me the movie version," Boromir said.

"Well...I mean, the first arrow hit you in the shoulder and you just kept fighting. You killed like, two more orcs, and then the second arrow hit you right below your heart. You fell over, and looked at Merry and Pippin, and then you turned around and killed another couple orcs. The third arrow hit your stomach, and you fell to your knees...Man, do I really have to describe this?"

"Yes. Continue."

"And then the Orc left, they just ran past you, and the orc with the bow came and aimed an arrow at your head, but you just stared it down. And then Aragorn showed up, and killed the orc, and...well...you told Aragorn everything that happened, and Aragorn swore he would not let the white city fall, and then you said that you would have followed him as your captain and king. And then you died. In the book they put all the swords of your enemies at your feet and stuff, and sent you over the Falls of Rauros. In the movie, they just had put your shield and sword and horn in the boat. But yeah, pretty much the same."

Boromir stared, "I called him my king?"

"Yeah. Then you died."

"I truly did die a changed man. Thank you for sharing this with me. I will keep it in mind and use it to make myself a better person," Boromir said solemnly.

"O..okay..." I muttered.

"And the boat makes it's way to the White City, or at least, the horn does."

"Just the horn, but yes. Faramir is going to find that horn. Then, when he finds Frodo and Sam, Faramir is going to tell them that you died. They are going to be sad, but then when Faramir insists on bringing the one Ring to Denethor, Frodo makes a sort-of true statement and says, "You want to hear how Boromir died? He tried to take the Ring," and Faramir lets them go. So, if we don't fake your death, the Ring will end up with your father, and I know you probably think that is a good thing but..."

"No. I don't. I see the Ring for what it truly is now. It is evil."

"Wow. Okay! That's great!" she said, "I would hug you but my right arm is pinned to your chest and my other one won't move!"

Boromir laughed and continued to forge ahead, and I wondered when we would get to Lothlorien, and whether I would ever use my arm again.


End file.
